Sanitary garment



July 14, 1970 KUB EI'AL 3,520,304

SANITARY GARMENT Filed May 9, 1968 United States Patent 3,520,304 SANITARY GARMENT Meral Kubali, Maplewood, and James A. Flowers, Shrewsbury, Mo., assignors to Beltx Corporation, St.,Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed May 9, 1968, Ser. No. 727,999 Int. Cl. A61f 13/16 US. Cl. 128-288 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sanitary panty garment of the type worn with a sanitary napkin. The panty comprises a body section of fabric material and a crotch section of impervious material, the body section comprising a panel of material extending generally from the center of the front of the body portion around one side of the body portion generally to the center of the back of the body portion and a panel of material extending generally from the center of the front of the body portion around the other side of the body portion generally to the center of the back of the body portion. The margins of the panels at the center of the front and back of the body portion are folded over and lapped and secured together by double rows of stitching from the upper edges of the crotch section to the upper edges of the body portion where they are caught in a waistband. Thus, the lapped margins constitute relatively narrow reinforcing bands generally at the center of the front and at the center of the back of the body portion. A sanitary napkin clasp is attached to each of the bands toward its lower end on the inside of the body portion for attachment of a sanitary napkin.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to sanitary panty garments adapted to be worn with a sanitary napkin, and particularly to improvements in sanitary panties of the type disclosed in US. Pat. 2,678,648, issued May 18, 1954, and entitled Sanitary Garment.

In said U. S. Pat. 2,678,648, there is shown a sanitary panty of the type comprising a body portion of thin fabric material and a crotch section of impervious material, the upper edge of the body portion having a waistband seamed thereto. The crotch section has side margins extending along leg openings of the panty and front and back margins extending from one leg opening of the panty to the other, the front and back margins of the crotch section being seamed to the body portion throughout their extent. The body portion comprises front and back panels stitched together at the sides of the panty. Narrow fabric tapes are caught at their upper ends in the waistband seam and extend from the center of the front and the center of the back of the body portion to the front and back margins of the crotch section, and sanitary napkin fasteners are attached to the tapes at their lower ends for holding a sanitary napkin in place in the crotch section. This type of panty has side seams extending at the sides of the body portion from the waistband to the leg openings, and reinforcing stay tapes at the center of the front and at the center of the back of the body portion for elimination of stress on the fabric of the garment when the garment is worn to avoid tearing of the fabric.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the several objects of this invention may be noted the provision of a sanitary panty garment of the class above described in which bulky side seams, which often are visible beneath outer garments, are eliminated;

3,520,304 Patented July 14, 1970 "ice the provision of such a garment in which the use of the separate stay tapes for reinforcement is eliminated, thereby reducing the materials and the time and the total number of operations required to produce the garment, while maintaining the reinforcing function of the stay tapes to eliminate stress on the fabric of the garment when the garment is worn; and the provision of a sanitary garment of the class above described which is economical to manufacture.

In general, a sanitary panty garment of this invention comprises a body section of fabric material and a crotch section of impervious material, the crotch section having side margins extending along leg openings of the garment and front and back margins extending from one leg openingof the garment to the other. The front and back margins of the crotch section are seamed t0 the body portion throughout their extent. The body portion comprises a panel of the fabric material extending generally from the center of the front of the body portion around one side of the body portion generally to the center of the back of the body portion and a panel of the fabric material extending generally from the center of the front of the body portion around the other side of the body portion generally to the center of the back of the body portion. The panels have their margins at the center of the front and back of the body portion lapped and secured together by stitching, the lapped margins of the panels constituting relatively narrow reinforcing bands. extending from the front and back margins of the crotch section to the upper edge of the body portion generally at the center of the front and at the center of the back of the body portion. Sanitary napkin clasps are attached to the bands toward their lower ends on the inside of the body portion. Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a sanitary garment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of the garment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a reduced fragmentary section on line 44 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a section on line 55 of FIG. 1.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, a sanitary panty garment of this invention is shown to comprise a body portion 1 ofa relatively thin fabric material, which may be any conventional knitted fabric such as is widely used for panty garments, for example rayon or nylon. The body portion consists of left and right side panels 3 and 5 joined at stitched front and back seams 7 and 9. An elastic waistband 11 encircles the waist of the body portion, which is puckered, and is stitched to the waist by the seam indicated at 13. The garment has a one-piece crotch section 15 of flexible, impervious, waterproof material, e.g., a coated fabric such as commercially available rayon coated on one side with a plastic, seamed by stitching along its front and back margins throughout their extent to the left and right panels, as indicated at 17 and 19, respectively. When plastic-coated fabric is used for the crotch section, the plastic-coated side is preferably on the inside. The body portion and crotch section are cut to provide leg openings 21, and elastic bands 23 encircle the leg openings and are stitched to the puckered margins of the body portion and the side margins of the crotch section as indicated at 25. The front and back margins of the crotch section extend from one leg opening to the other, and the left panel 3 (as viewed in FIG. 1) extends generally from the center of the front of the body portion around the left side of the body portion generally to the center of the back of the body portion, and the right panel extends generally from the center of the front of the body portion around the right side of the body portion generally to the center of the back of the body portion.

The seams 7 and 9 constituted by the margins of the left and right panels 3 and 5 at the center of the front and at the center of the back of the body portion are lapped and secured together by stitching extending from the front and rear margins of the crotch section to the upper edge of the body portion where they are caught in the waistband seam 13. As shown in FIG. 5, the seams 7 and 9 are formed by folding a portion of one of the margins back on itself on the outside and a portion of the other margin extending past the first folded portion back on itself on the inside, with the edges of the folded portions being contiguous generally along the center line of the seam. The margins are secured together by a double row of stitching 27, one row of which extends through the folded portion of one of the margins and the other row of which extends through the folded portion of the other margin. Thus, there are three layers of fabric at the seams 7 and 9 which constitute relatively narrow reinforcing bands extending from the front and back margins of the crotch section to the upper edge of the body portion generally at the center of the front and at the center of the back of the body portion. Attached to each of the bands towards its lower end on the inside of the body portion is a sanitary napkin fastener 29 of the type shown in U.S. Design 144,290, for example, having an end opening receiving stitching 31 (FIG. 4) attaching it to the seam just above the crotch section seam.

In use, a sanitary napkin (not shown) is gripped at its end by the fasteners 29 in position on the inside of the protective impervious crotch section 15. Strain transmitted from the napkin to the fasteners is taken by the front and back reinforcing bands 7 and 9, rather than by the thin fabric of the body portion of the garment, and it is transmitted by the bands to the waistband 11 via the securement of the upper ends of the bands in the waistband seam 13. Thus, the thin fabric of the body portion of the garment is entirely relieved of strain resulting from the wearing of the garment with a napkin, and any ripping or tearing of the garment, such as otherwise might occur, is precluded. Also, the securement of the napkin fasteners to the bands rather than to the thin fabric of the garment results in a strong attachment precluding ripping out of the fasteners. Since the seams of the body portion are at the center of the front and back of the body portion, bulky side seams, which often are visible beneath outer garments, are eliminated. As noted above, the front and back seams 7 and 9 serve the dual purpose of fastening together the body portion panels 3 and 5 and as reinforcement bands for attachment of the sanitary napkin fasteners 29. Thus, the use of separate stay tapes is eliminated, thereby reducing the total number of manufacturing operations by the equivalent of two seams, while this function is maintained. In addition, reduction of the number of overlock seams reduces the trimming time required to produce the garment, and raw material inventories are reduced by the amount of the tape.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above con structions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A sanitary panty garment comprising a body section of fabric material and a crotch section of impervious material, the crotch section having side margins extending along leg openings of the garment and front and back margins extending from one leg opening of the garment to the other, the front and back margins of the crotch section being seamed to the body portion throughout their extent, said body portion comprising a panel of said fabric material extending generally from the center of the front of said body portion around one. side of said body portion generally to the center of the back of said body portion and a panel of said fabric material extending generally from the center of the front of said body portion around the other side of said body portion generally to the center of the back of said body portion, said panels having their margins at the center of the front of said body portion lapped and seamed together by stitching and having their margins at the center of the back of said body portion lapped and seamed together by stitching, said lapped margins of said panels constituting relatively narrow reinforcing bands generally at the center of the front and at the center of the back of said body portion, and sanitary napkin clasps attached to said bands toward their lower ends on the inside of said body portion.

2. A sanitary panty garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein said front and back reinforcing bands respectively extend from the front and back margins of the crotch section to the front and back upper edges of said body portion.

3. A sanitary panty garment as set forth in claim 2 further comprising a waistband at the upper edge of said body portion, the upper ends of said reinforcing bands being caught in said waistband.

4. A sanitary panty garment as set forth in claim 1 wherein portions of said front and back lapped margins are folded over to form a multi-layer seam, and are secured together by multiple rows of stitching.

5. A sanitary panty garment as set forth in claim 4 wherein one margin has a portion folded back on itself on the outside and the other margin extends past said folded portion and has a portion folded back on itself on the inside, the edges of said folded portions being contiguous generally along the centerline of said bands.

6. A sanitary panty garment as set forth in claim 5 wherein the multiple rows of stitching include one row of stitching extending through the folded portion of said one margin and a second row of stitching extending through the folded portion of said other margin.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. l28528; 2224 

